


Whatever Direction the Wind Will Take Me (I’ll Follow You)

by MyWritingCabin



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Torchwood
Genre: Episode: s01e10 Out of Time, F/M, Peggy Carter is Diane Holmes, Rift, Time Travel, author has no knowledge of airplanes, possible medical inaccuracies in chapter two, suspend your disbelief if necessary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 00:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/754872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyWritingCabin/pseuds/MyWritingCabin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy Carter finds herself in the 21st century. Her journey there isn't the easiest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. But I'll be close behind

**Author's Note:**

> Some while ago I posted a prompt on [avengerkink](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/10266.html?thread=22811930) (prompt can also be found in the end notes). Many, many months passed, and I just couldn’t forget it and seeing as no one else seemed to want the prompt I decided to write it myself. 
> 
> I tried to write this so that no knowledge of Torchwood is required. The only thing you need to know is that Torchwood is an organization that controls the extraterrestrial happenings in the Cardiff area and it employs Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones. Some of the dialogue is taken straight from the episode. If you can watch the episode 1x10 (Out of Time) I think it will enhance your reading experience, but as I said I tried to write it so that it is not by any means necessary. 
> 
> I use the names Peggy Carter and Diane Holmes interchangeably: Peggy when referring her before 1948, Diane after 1948. 
> 
> Also, I know nothing about flying any kind of aircraft, so I apologize in advance if I make mistakes and please, try to suspend your disbelief. Thank you!

Peggy Carter can’t believe her luck. Well, luck may be the wrong word bearing in mind all that has happened to her in the past week. Particularly considering that at the moment she’s sitting next to some old man in his pickup who just happened to be near where she crashed her plane. Also, the year is 2008.

* * *

First thing she remembers going wrong so to say, well the thing that really started this whole series of unfortunate events, is the ill-fated flight where she and her passengers had set off from Bristol in 1953 and found themselves in Cardiff in 2007. That had been a shock to say the least. She tried to give the impression to the others that it was no big deal, since she had already seen so many marvelous things happening in her lifetime, but inside she was rather shaken. No matter how many super soldiers she’d see, how many unbelievable experiments Howard did, no matter what happened, when it happened to you it was different. Plus, it was time traveling. Nothing she’d ever done in her life could have prepared her for this. 

Secondly, well, it was the fact that she and her passengers had found themselves in the year 2007 for god’s sakes! If Peggy was totally honest she thinks she might have had less of a hard time if they hadn’t end up in the 21st century. Everything was so different! The people were the same, but the attitudes had changed drastically, the technology had taken huge leaps during their flight – Howard would have been in heaven here – and nothing just felt the same. There was very little that could remind her of home and the 50s. She usually considered herself a modern woman, but even she had trouble trying to blend in and reconcile with the fact that she was now more than 50 years in the future. It was no wonder that she finally snapped and tried to find her way back home in any way possible. And that brought her to the fact number three; the crash.

* * *

Bristol, UK  
December 18th, 1953

The weather had been a bit unpredictable that day. The morning had been rainy and it had brought heavy wind with it, but now it seemed like it was a totally different day. Diane Holmes was making her last checks on the plane she was flying today, a de Havilland Dragon Rapide or Sky Gypsy as it was also called, a gift from Howard Stark that she would not part with. Yes, she was as unpredictable as the British weather and needed an experienced hand to fly – Howard had tried few times, but quickly announced her dear plane as a lost cause, she had clearly imprinted herself to Diane and wasn’t that a wonderful memory – but Diane loved to fly her. She had flown other planes and had at one time owned a different one, but the Sky Gypsy still remained her absolute favorite. 

Diane, or Peggy Carter as she had been known a few years back, had really caught the bug for flying quite soon after the Second World War. When the war was over and Steve was no longer with them she had longed for something that would take her mind away from what had happened. She knew she could continue with the SSR and what they were doing, but she had become used to a certain kind of freedom and responsibility that she had during the war and knew that it would be unlikely that she could continue with such a role now that the men were back from the war to claim their positions. It had been Howard Stark, that extraordinary, but sometimes insufferable human being that had infected Peggy with the fever that simply would not go away. Howard and Peggy had kept contact after the war was over, even after she had left the SSR and it was he who gave Peggy her first flying lessons. Peggy had always known that she was a bit of risk-taker – how else would she had found herself in the middle of the war being a part of Strategic Scientific Reserve and an agent to boot – so finding her doing something else quite brazen was not really a surprise. 

Peggy took to flying like fish to water. She loved it. Well, okay. She had quite a few reservations about planes and flying at first, especially right after Steve’s crash, but once she really got to try her hand in flying it felt like the most amazing thing she had ever done in her life. It allowed her more freedom than some would believe suitable for a woman at the time. The name change from Peggy Carter to Diane Holmes happened the same time when she finally received her pilot’s license, in 1948. She was 29 and already a bit jaded. Captain America had been quite well known across United Kingdom – and even somewhat known across the Europe and certainly well-known in America – by the time the war ended and she was known as Captain America’s sweetheart. She placed the blame mostly on those blasted news reels and reporters who wouldn’t mind their own business! Steve’s unfortunate fate and the constant pity and badgering from unknown persons made her finally change her name. The pilot’s license was just the final kick that she needed in order to finally do it. She chose the name Diane Holmes mostly because it was somewhat familiar – her great aunt was Diane and Holmes was her mother’s maiden name –that fact alone would help ease the transition phase where she did not yet feel entirely comfortable with this new alias. Howard and Colonel Phillips never stopped calling her Peggy Carter though – or Agent Carter in Colonel Phillips’s case, even after she resigned from the SSR – but to everyone else she was Diane Holmes. To put it in layman’s terms: Peggy Carter was dead, long live Diane Holmes. 

Finishing her checks on the plane she moved to the hangar to wait for her passengers. After a few years of just doing nothing but enjoying her plane and seeing various exotic locations, sometimes with Howard, Diane had eventually found employment as a commercial pilot for a small airline. The company was so small that her plane was one of the two planes that the airline had and because Sky Gypsy was in fact her own she had quite a bit of freedom to choose her destinations. The company provided the upkeep and covered the expenses, but otherwise the plane was hers and would always be. 

She only had two passengers today, Ms. Emma Louise Cowell and Mr. John Ellis. Their destination was Dublin, which was a little over 200 miles away, an easy distance for the Sky Gypsy which had a range of 550 miles on a good weather. 

So, having made all the necessary checks and after loading the luggage and the passengers to the plane Diane took the course to Dublin.

* * *

Cardiff, Wales  
December 29th, 2007

Even though the weather had been more than fine at the time they set off, not even half an hour had passed when they encountered some horrible turbulence. Diane was more than capable of flying in a storm, but the turbulence was making the passengers very uncomfortable, plus the visibility was minimal and Diane would not take unnecessary risks when she had passengers onboard. So she set the course for finding the nearest available runway or airbase where they could wait for the storm to calm. 

Diane should’ve known it would not be that easy. The moment the plane’s wheels had touched the ground and the motors had been turned off they had a welcoming committee waiting for them. Welcoming committee that asked the most bizarre questions, like when they left, what date it was and the year. Apparently there had been something wrong with her answers as they were now on their way to some base with their luggage with them and their trip was cut short, at least for the time being. Diane could hear the mumbling coming from John Ellis and the soft inquires from Emma Cowell about when they could possibly head off again, but no answers were incoming from their companions. Something about this whole situation was making the warning bells in her head raise the alarm and she just hoped that if the push came to shove she could still find her way out of this. 

The actual journey to wherever they were lead was quite bizarre. The transportation was like nothing she had ever seen before and at the times it seemed like the man who was driving the vehicle was having a conversation with himself. Finally they reached their destination and were led to a base. Inside the base, and it was clearly a base of operations of some kind no doubt about that, it was no different. Filled with weird technology and gadgets, the underground base was like melting pot of all these different things that Diane thought were impossible. To Diane all this reminded her ever so slightly of those early SSR bases they got when they took whatever was available – no matter if it was underground or not or if the building was nearly decaying before their very eyes – and after Howard filled it with his strange devises. Still, no matter the circumstances or even the scant familiarity, alarm continued to blare in her head making her be extra cautious of her surroundings. And a good thing it was as they quite soon discovered.

* * *

Nothing Diane had done before in her life quite prepared her for this. Sure, she was used to weird and inexplicable things occurring, like a man changing from a skinny lad to a muscle clad, but this. This was beyond her comprehension.

“But how can you travel fifty years in half an hour?” John Ellis asked disbelief clear in his voice. He was standing in front of the conference room table that they were situated in, Emma beside him and Diane herself slightly behind them trying to stay in the background and absorb as much information as possible out of this bizarre happenstance. 

“Your aircraft slipped through a transcendental portal.” The man who had introduced himself as Captain Harkness, the man in charge of Torchwood, replied from the other side of the conference room table, his team beside him. Diane didn’t know if it was deliberate, this whole standing in different sides of the room, their welcoming committee on one side, they on the other, but it only made her feel more out of place than she already was.

“A what?” Emma said quietly. 

Poor dear, she looked so frightened. No wonder. Diane herself was feeling slightly uncomfortable and was trying to stay on the background and gather as much information as possible. So far, it had been a dead end. Her unease had not evaporated in the least. She very much wanted to go back to her own time – if they had indeed jumped through in time – where she could feel more at ease or at least leave this place and get her bearings and take hold of the situation by herself in her own time. 

“A door in time and space.”

“It's some kind of trick, it has to be.” John Ellis tried to counter and Diane wanted to agree with him. She, too, very much liked this to be some horrible dream or trick of her own mind from where she could wake up the next morning.

* * *

It wasn’t a trick. Not in the least. Or if it was, it was the most elaborate trick known in the history of mankind. After the briefing, which Diane still couldn’t comprehend properly, the three of them were escorted to a motel where they spent the night on moderately comfortable beds; she and Emma in one room, John Ellis in other. 

The next day they received new IDs and some currency as a part of their introduction to this new society and era and took the most unbelievable, bizarre and at the same time the most wonderful trip. ‘This new world is so different’, Diane thought to herself. They even had bananas at the supermarket where everyone could buy them. And so many of them, too! It had been so long since she had the opportunity to eat bananas as they had been nearly nonexistent during the war and had just only started to reappear. And oh, did they taste ever so good! She had almost forgotten the sweet taste of bananas, because it had been quite a long time since she last ate them. She still remembered the first time she had one, her memory as clear as if it had happened yesterday. Her grandmother had bought them one time when she was visiting her and let her taste one. She remembered being about five and sitting in her grandmother’s kitchen, munching on a banana and savoring it like it was the sweetest candy there ever was. Her grandmother puttered around the kitchen, baking something, something with bananas most probably, and every once in a while looked at Peggy and smiled. Diane sighed. If they really were in another time now she supposed there was no chance of ever seeing her family again. They would all be dead by now, she reckoned. 

She also couldn’t help but wonder if Howard was still around. The man was a menace sometimes and she was quite certain that if his unfortunate habits hadn’t killed him – and she had seen some manifest even during the war – nothing could. She also thought where all her however small number of friends were and if they mourned her. Captain Harkness had told them that according to the history they never made it back to their own time, so they must’ve. Still, most of her friends were other pilots and aviation being as risky as it was they all were certainly used to the fact that sometimes people just disappeared mid-flight, most likely taken in by the sea, Amelia Earhart being the most famous example, never to be found again. So when the Torchwood people had asked her about any family who she would want to know about she lied. She lied, because if someone connected her to Howard Stark and SSR and to all the things she did during WWII she knew she would be in trouble. She knew too much; too much of the super soldier program, too much of the Tesseract, too much of the Hydra. She had sworn to secrecy when she had entered SSR and again as she left and she would not break her promise. Her knowledge may not be on the bar with Howard or Colonel Phillips, but in the wrong hands she knew plenty enough. 

Nonetheless, even after the wonderful trip to the supermarket, eating all the foods Diane hadn’t tasted in years – and some she had never tasted – and reliving all those memories she started to feel a bit restless. The institution that had discovered them – Torchwood they called themselves, what a silly name – didn’t tell them much about how they got here, only that there was some sort of door in the space that randomly took people and things and dropped them in somewhere completely different. She was dying to know more. For all her life she had always had something to do and even if they had only been here in this new time for nearly two days she longed for something that would take her mind off of the direction it was going. All this laying about and trying to immerse with this new society were doing nothing to calm her nerves. She needed something to do and quick.

Her restlessness continued, even after she went for a small walk trying to clear her mind. Diane had never been to Cardiff, had only seen pictures of it before, but what she saw was a beautiful city bustling with people dressed in multiple different ways, some wearing scandalously little to cover them. In her mind she knew that fashion changed, she had seen it herself, but still she wouldn’t get over the fact that it was completely acceptable nowadays to wear skirts so short in public that you could almost see the top of their tighs. 

Owen Harper, Torchwood’s prickly doctor, finally suggested that she could go see her plane. Diane dearly wanted to see that she was taken good care of and that she was in tip top condition, so she enthusiastically agreed. The trip back to the airbase was quite boring compared to all that she had seen these last few days, but the relief Diane felt when she saw her plane once more was palpable. The Sky Gypsy had been moved to inside a hangar and some kind soul had even refueled it, not that there was any need for it, really. There had been almost whole tank of fuel left, which was no wonder if they had really been airborne only half an hour and the spare canisters were still there. It seemed like the same helpful soul had even filled them up for her, too. Combined it was more than enough for a trip to wherever she would want, should she have the opportunity. 

When doctor Harper asked the question how she had gotten into this whole aviation business the lie came from her lips easily. She had been asked that very same question few times before and she very well couldn’t tell them the truth; the truth that she had been a part of the secret international institution and had been in close contact with the super soldier, Captain America, himself. She did have a niggling thought that this Torchwood institution was a bit like the old SSR had been, but she had no desire of actually confirming the fact. She was too suspicious of everything at this point to try and find out if that were true, because all she had was her instincts that said Torchwood was, if not completely safe, at least safe enough. But she was in foreign situation, she had no real reference point at this time and she had not seen them actually do anything yet. Plus, she had no idea how she would or could even approach the subject. It was definitely safer this way. You never knew what the others would do to you when they realized that you were an ex government agent. 

“Ferried planes during the war. Of course, when it was over, we were supposed to revert to being dutiful wives and daughters. But I'd got the taste for it. No pig-headed man tells me what to do,” she replied. 

It was close enough to be the truth anyway; she certainly had caught the flying bug during the war on her multiple flights with Howard – on those trips that required an agent to be present – when he was ferrying the planes and shipments from one base to the other, but she had actually gotten into flying right after the war. 

Her improved mood turned somewhat somber when doctor Harper informed her that she couldn’t fly the Sky Gypsy. Not legally. Seeing as her license had expired with what it suddenly being 2007 and not 1953. Bugger! She’d have to consider her choices of what to do more at a later date, but now she was off to a dinner with doctor Harper, apparently. Nothing more that could be done here, so she should just concentrate on something else and enjoy the rest of her evening.

* * *

Diane regretted leaving Owen behind sleeping so peacefully on his bed. He was a nice man underneath that grouchy exterior, but Diane couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was not right and that she should be on her way to somewhere. Well, to be frank that feeling hadn’t abated since they arrived to this time period and she was quite certain that it would continue if things didn’t change. 

Diane debated for a while on whether to leave a note for Owen or not, but in the end she decided it was the most courteous thing to do when breaking up with someone, even if they had been together – or something resembling it – only less than a week. Last night had been wonderful; Diane had still been quite sullen about the realization that she would have to get her pilot’s license again and all the time that would be wasted for something that she could already do. The plane was hers; she knew how to handle it, that hadn’t changed in a week so why couldn’t the people at Torchwood just fake her pilot’s license like they had their IDs she would never know. Owen had cheered her up by bringing her to the rooftop of his apartment complex after a dinner together, had bought her the most beautiful, elegant looking dress and simply put, seduced her with good music and dancing. The only thing that had put a bit of a dampener on the otherwise perfect evening had been the fact that the dress had been red; she still associated a red dress with Steve and she had, at the time, planned on using that one red dress again on a date with him if he ever got the nerve to ask her out. But all in all, the evening with Owen had been most wonderful and they had ended up in his apartment after all the dancing and found themselves making even closer contact together. 

She collected her clothes from the floor where they had ended up in their haste to undress each other, re-dressed herself, took a cab and went to the housing they were supposed to reside in for the time. When she arrived there Diane saw no sign of Emma. She must’ve been out with that Gwen girl, making friends and being all friendly and outgoing. Diane put on the clothes she arrived in this decade and had a silent debate, but soon came to a conclusion that she should just leave behind the red dress. She didn’t have many memories associated with that dress and no idea why she even took that dress with her, only the memory of few wonderful nights with Owen, but still it didn’t feel right for her to depart with it, so she gently folded the dress and left it on the bed. So with her meager belongings neatly folded in her suitcase Diane exited the room she had shared with Emma, headed outside to catch a cab and told the driver the address of the airbase that housed her plane. 

The ride to the airbase wasn’t long and sooner than she realized she was there. Diane paid the cab driver and left. She had no idea how much money she gave to the cabbie, but it must have been enough as the cab drove away leaving her momentarily standing in front of the airbase building.

* * *

Diane was just making her last minute checks to the plane when she saw and heard Owen’s car screech to halt next to her plane. She paid him no mind, even though her heart yelled her to stop. 

“No! I'm not letting you do this.” Owen shouted.

“I'm not a possession, Owen.”

“You can't do this, it's madness.”

Diane sighed and continued making her preparations for the flight.

“If I listened to everyone who told me that, I wouldn't have broken any records. “ 

In her mind she added ‘I also wouldn’t have ever met Steve, seen the wonderful things I’ve seen and experienced all the things I have.’ Even her own family had been wary of her joining the SSR, only her grandmother had embraced her and encouraged her to follow her heart. She had always been Peggy’s most loyal supporter in all the things she ended up doing and when Peggy had told her what had happened to Steve and after she had poured her heart out to her and told her that despite everything she still wanted to be a pilot and fly planes her grandmother had opened her arms and hugged her tightly with her weak hands. 

She kept on arguing with Owen. He tried to make her see that this is madness, unsuccessfully; she tried to make him see that she has to do this. She can’t just wait here and do nothing. It’s making her stir-crazy and as much as she likes Owen, she feels like he thinks of her as a possession, not a person and she just can’t handle that. Not again. The weather conditions are the same as they were when they first arrived, maybe that will help her on her path and take her someplace new. 

He grabbed her arm, but she moved out of his grip and finished her last checks and entered the plane. Dear Owen tried to come with, and if she believed he really meant it and that his place was not here she might actually accept. He’s almost desperate and tried to prevent her from leaving. She took off her white scarf and put it around Owen’s neck and kissed him one last time.

“What memories I'm taking with me,” she said to him and caressed his cheek trying to imprint him to her memories even more clearly. His face was heart breaking and Diane could see how he was trying to keep the tears at bay. He nodded, took a few steps back and she saw walls coming down on his face. She started the engines, looked out of the window and threw him a kiss and then took off.


	2. I'll follow you into the dark

Portland, Maine, US  
January 4th, 2008

Diane sighed and grasped her hair tightly in her fist. Her face was facing the floor, jaw almost to her chest, her eyes closed and she was concentrating on breathing so not to start panicking. The gentle rocking motion of the pickup was almost soothing. The road they were traveling at the moment wasn’t in the best possible condition because of all the snow that had fallen recently, so the occasional bumps were felt, but it didn’t bother Diane, much. It had been hell of a day and it showed no signs of stopping any time soon. 

A nice old man with a pickup truck had been nearby when she had crashed her plane. Diane still couldn’t get over the fact she had crashed the Sky Gypsy, not landed roughly, no, properly crashed. Her plane had gone up in flames just minutes after Diane had stepped out, her steps zigzagging tremendously. She had hit her head during the rough fall on the control panel and she was sure she had bruises and cuts in places where there had not been bruises and cuts previously. She had a headache and her goggles had most certainly left a mark around her eyes. Diane had just barely had the time to inform the air traffic control about her imminent nose dive and her position on her way down, before she had to concentrate on landing the plane in as few pieces as possible. The actual landing had been less than graceful, but it was not something that Diane could have avoided. The way down had been a bit bumpy, the landing could have been better, but all in all, Diane was in as good condition as anyone could be from that kind of landing. 

The man she was currently traveling with, Robert had been nearby with his truck and had seen her plane go down and came to make sure everything was fine. It really was a blessing the man had been there, who knew when she would’ve been found otherwise and in what condition. Diane took a deep breath and sighed. Oh, not a good idea. Her ribs felt sore and that deep breath felt really unpleasant. Thankfully nothing felt broken, so probably just bruising. Diane could deal with that. It was not the first time she had a tumble and had to be extra careful for some time afterwards. Still, this was not the way she had pictured her journey to an unknown destination end when she set off from Cardiff full with determination and a slight heart break. No, she had more thought she would either find her way home, despite knowing the history books saying they never did manage that or land on some remote location safe and sound. She definitely didn’t imagine an engine failure above the ocean and a forced landing to somewhere. 

The two of them had traveled for some time when Diane saw the first signs of proper civilization. The road was better now, had been for a while, and there were more houses to be seen. The crash site must have been somewhere pretty remote. Diane shivered a little, she was starting to get a little uncomfortable and cold in her slightly wet clothes, because the snow had started falling again whilst they were on their way to the nearest city. Robert had given her a spare coat to help her warm up and had put the heater in the car to full, but even that combined hadn’t fully managed to dry up her clothes. 

Robert had been the perfect gentleman ever since he had seen Diane stagger away from the burning wreckage that used to be her beloved Sky Gypsy. He had obviously been on his way to somewhere else, but when he saw what happened had decided to change his plans immediately. For that Diane was very grateful. He had stopped his vehicle immediately and when he had seen that she was wearing nowhere near enough for the weather had gone to his pickup and offered her the spare coat and called for the fire department to come and take care of the now former plane. Diane had been in a slight shock since the fall and just sitting in the pickup truck while the nice man took care of the business was absolutely much appreciated. When Robert came back to his truck where Diane was sitting on the seat and shivering he offered to take her to a hospital, but Diane refused. After trying to insist she go see someone, but failing he insisted that she at least let his son see that there was nothing wrong before he would let her go.

* * *

That is how Diane found herself sitting on the living room sofa in this comfy two-story suburban home. Robert told her that he used to live here with his wife, Miranda, who had passed away almost a decade earlier, but that their kids visited him fairly regularly even though they all had hectic jobs and lives of their own. Robert was clearly very proud of his offspring and he told multiple stories featuring his kids on their journey to Robert’s house. Patrick was a lawyer who lived in LA who had been a hellion when he was younger, the very sociable Penelope was a kindergarten teacher still living in Maine and Phillip was living in New York working for the government and had been very calm and collected even when little… most times. Diane smiled thinking of Robert and Miranda living in this house raising their three children who were all very different in their personalities. She laughed when Robert told her of the time when they had to call the fire brigade because little Phillip aged six absolutely refused to come down from the tree, because the house was full of evil Hydra officers, the same time as Penelope, seven, was in the middle of fighting with her best friend about what boy was the most handsomest ever (blood had been drawn, it was that intense) and Patrick, the oldest of them all at nine years old, had been making some strange concoctions in the kitchen which caused the fire alarms to blare and a god awful smell to permeate the house for the rest of the week. 

They sat in the living room for quite a while drinking tea and swapping stories; Diane told him about her grandmother – slightly edited of course – and Robert told more stories about their kids. Tea always made her feel like she was in control and calm even if the reality was nothing like that and Diane appreciated the apparent calmness that came over her, even if it was a placebo effect. Her various aches had also started to wear off a little, breathing was definitely easier now and her headache was starting to lessen. 

She had almost finished her third cup of tea when she heard the front door open and close and someone stomp their feet trying to get rid of the snow that was still falling from the sky. 

“Dad?” a voice shouted. “Dad? Where are you?”

“In the kitchen, son.” Robert replied and Diane heard the other man make his way to the kitchen. Robert had went to make them some sandwiches after his second cup of tea, because her stomach had started rumbling informing her that it had been quite a while since she had actually eaten anything other than a power bar that she had bought and stashed in her bag while in Cardiff the previous day. There were some indistinct noises coming from the kitchen, but nothing Diane could make out as the voices were too quiet to hear them all the way to the living room. 

After a moment or two Robert and his son entered the room. Robert’s son was in his late thirties – probably early forties – anyway, good thirty or so years younger than Robert Diane thought. He was also pretty nondescript, but in no way a bad looking man. They both had the same build, their hair was similar and Diane could see plenty more to confirm just based on the looks alone that this man was indeed Robert’s son. 

“This is my son, Phillip.” Robert introduced him finally. “He was in the army when he was younger” the man groaned at that, Diane figured he protested more at the _when he was younger_ part than the mention of him once having been in the army, “and he’s kept his field medical skills fresh even after that because of his job.” The man, Phillip, huffed a little and his lips twitched ever so slightly upwards. 

“Hello. My father has explained a bit what has happened to you and if you don’t mind I’d like to check there’s nothing wrong. I’d like to stress that I am in no way a medical professional, but I do have experience with the type of wounds that you may have after your fall.” Phillip told her with his calm voice. Diane couldn’t do more than nod; all of this had happened so fast it seemed and she was pretty sure she had some sort of concussion, probably a very mild one, but that would at least make her slowness make some sense. Even though her headache has lessened she didn’t feel exactly 100 % perfect. The bruises were there still and she was starting to feel very tired. She had seen plenty of soldiers at the war getting concussions and remembered some of them being what she felt now herself. 

“Now. Do you mind if I sit here?” Phillip asked her and indicated at the seat next to her. Diane nodded. 

“So, first things first. Do you remember your name?”

“Diane. Diane Holmes.”

* * *

It took a while before Phillip, ‘no, please call me Phil’, seemed satisfied that she was suffering only from a mild concussion – she had at no time lost her consciousness, thank goodness for small mercies – and had only few scrapes and bruises, no broken ribs or anything more dangerous. He still wanted her to go over to a medical professional to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, but seeing as she had lost all her identification papers and money at the crash they had given her at Torchwood that was going to have to wait for a bit. When Phil had heard that she had no ID he made his dad call his neighbor, the local police officer who promised to drop by and interview her regarding the crash, so that the process of getting her new IDs could be set in motion. Robert had offered to accommodate her for the duration, which Diane had at first declined – really, she was a total stranger to this man – but when she realized she had no money to pay for a hotel and all her contacts were several decades old and probably very outdated she gave in and accepted the very generous offer. 

The whole process took some time, seeing as they had to contact the British Embassy and officials to get them to send her a new passport and ID to her, and also to contact the bank that Torchwood had set their bank accounts in for emergency cash and to help her pay for the procedural. While waiting for all of this to be concluded Diane spent her time helping Robert with the chores around the house and trying to come up with something to do after this all was over, again. 

The crash still bothered Diane. She had no idea how she could have ended up from Cardiff, UK to Portland, Maine when the range on her – now former – plane was 550 miles on a good weather. To end up on mainland USA was just inconceivable. Even if she used both – and she had – of her spare tanks of petrol there was no way she should have ended up this far from Cardiff. Even with Howard’s weird modifications to the plane she wasn’t sure if they would have helped her achieve this distance, but Howard had assured her that most of those were just to make flying the Sky Gypsy a better and safer experience. There was no logical explanation that could make it seem plausible that you could cross the Atlantic Ocean and travel 3000 miles when you should have been able to do only half of that. Another transcendental portal would have made sense, except that she hadn’t moved in time, like they had when they came to the present from the 50s, only in space. Unless, Diane figured, there were three types of portals: ones that moved you in time, others that moved you in space and ones that combined those two. She sighed. Her plane had acted out the entire time since she left Cardiff, the controls radar and going haywire. The rescue crew had salvaged the black box from the wreckage – only recently installed on her plane, courtesy of Howard – and what she could make sense of its information the plane’s control system was completely out of whack. It had told her she was much closer to the African than the American continent. Now that she looked back she could only assume that the rift had had a profound effect on her plane. What effect precisely, she may never know.

* * *

It took Diane some time to figure out her future and what she wanted to do. In the end the decision was quite easy, she would continue to be a pilot. She yearned to feel the wind beneath a plane’s wings and the freedom that it gave her. The crash had scared her a bit – and she occasionally got flashbacks back to when Steve had crashed his – scared her enough that she really had to consider if she could continue flying planes, but she knew she would never be happy with a job that would keep her in one place. She needed fresh air and the sense of independence and to feel the ground below her and the open sky above her like she needed air to breathe and food to survive. She needed to be free to go where she wanted, when she wanted, because she didn’t want to face the future that many women in her time had faced, to be kept inside their homes raising children and keeping house. She knew things were different now and that it was no longer considered improper for a woman to have a career, just like it hadn’t been before the war, but like it had been after it. 

Robert had been a huge help guiding her towards her path. He had gotten her a part time job in a café nearby when she was studying to be a pilot in this century. She had told Robert she was studying to become a commercial pilot – not technically a lie – and that it required a more extensive knowledge and she needed to pass more comprehensive test in order to become one. Robert had also provided her with accommodation; she was living in his house with Robert and in exchange of the rent she was doing some household chores for him. Robert was no longer a young man and some things had been slightly neglected because he had not been capable of doing those, so Diane helped where she could. Any spare time she had after work, studying and helping Robert was spent exploring the city and when she had seen that she expanded her travels to the rest of the state. Diane felt, if not completely satisfied, then satisfied enough with her life as it was. Sure, she could not wait to hop on a plane – with a proper permit – and feel the wind in her hair, but she also didn’t feel like someone’s property. Her job in the café took only 20 hours of her week, the rest she could pretty much spend as she liked.

* * *

Few years passed. Diane passed her pilot’s license – both private and commercial – test with flying colors and started to search for a job in the field. Her start had not been as easy this time as it had been in the past seeing as she no longer had her own airplane and could not crank up the miles that way. But, she was an experienced pilot even if that fact was to be shared with no one and it wasn’t long before she had a job as a private pilot.

* * *

Somewhere between New York and DC, US  
May 4th, 2012

When the battle of New York happened Diane was on the job. She was piloting a private plane on the way from New York to D.C. when she heard the news. Aliens. In New York. Actual proper aliens. Not genetically manipulated Hydra soldiers trying to take over the world, at least she didn’t think so judging by the news she could hear in her headset. No, aliens from outer space, or wherever, flying in the streets of New York and causing mayhem and bent on world domination and maybe even genocide, Diane figured. They always wanted to either enslave the human population or to destroy the whole planet, at least in fiction and, Diane sighed, to somewhat in her own experience. 

The air traffic control was having a totally justified melt down and was cautioning every plane out there from entering New York City air space and finding an alternative airport to land in if their destination had been New York. Normally Diane wouldn’t even hear the conversations the air traffic control had with other planes, but it seemed like there was something wrong with the link, because she could hear snippets where ATC tried to divert planes heading towards New York. 

“Excuse me.” 

Diane took her eyes off from the monitors – thank god for the autopilot – and turned to see who had called her. One of her passengers, Ms. Pepper Potts if Diane remembered correctly, had red eyes from crying and her hands were slightly trembling, no doubt caused by the news from the city. Her hair that had been so nicely done when they took off was now worse for wear, but her posture was as impeccable as it had ever been, even in those towering heels she was wearing. 

“I have no doubt that by now you’ve heard about the invasion,” the other woman continued, her voice betraying none of the turmoil she clearly was in. Diane confirmed that she was indeed correct.

“I need you to turn this plane around and make our way back to New York. I have made arrangements already and even though New York is no-flying-zone at the moment for most planes there should be space for us to land in LaGuardia in Marine Air Terminal.” 

The woman was checking her phone while she told this to Diane, her fingers going like mad on the surface of her Stark phone, likely answering emails and incoming texts. The more she fiddled with her phone the more relaxed she became. Good news no doubt then.

“Okay. No problem. I can do that.” Diane replied. “Mind just telling me why we are going back to the place where there is a battle going on?” she continued trying not to come out as insubordinate; the other woman was after all her customer and the one who was responsible for her current paycheck. But Diane wasn’t going to do just anything. She needed a clear reason why flying into a no-fly-zone was something that needed to be done. 

The woman’s eyes rose from her phone.

“My, oh god, fiancé is out there battling those monsters,” she said and took a deep sigh. Her smile was just the tiniest amount of forced as she continued. “Or well, was, as it seems the battle is now finished, I’m told. But we need to get back, ASAP. My company can help with the, hmmm, cleanup of the city and I’m sure there is lots of it and…” 

Diane interrupted her. 

“Okay. Calm down. Why don’t you sit here for a moment and wait for me to turn this plane around and then you can continue.” Diane said while pointing to the empty co-pilot’s chair. 

The woman sat in the vacant chair, and for a while just concentrated on breathing deeply, or so it seemed to Diane. She took off the autopilot and started the necessary steps to turn the plane around and head to LaGuardia. 

“You said you had already made the necessary arrangement to secure us a safe landing site. Could you please let me know the information so I know which runway to take and so on? I suppose you have a different source of information than the ATC I can still hear quietly panicking in my ear.” 

The other woman smiled slightly and took out her phone again and made a call.

“Jarvis, could you please tell…” she looked at her direction.

“Diane Holmes” Diane replied.

“Ms. Holmes the flight plan and all the necessary information. Thank you, Jarvis.”

No sooner had she finished the call when a voice came clear through her headset. A man, probably the Jarvis fellow, told her all the details she needed in a calming voice and with that in mind she made the last steps required and headed back to New York.

* * *

Ms. Potts spent the most of the journey back beside Diane, clearly trying to distract herself from the happenings around them and sometimes listening what this Jarvis fellow told her of the situation on her phone. She was just telling Diane about her fiancé, Tony Stark, and the team that fought with him during the battle when she caught a familiar name in the middle of the story.

“I’m sorry. Did you say Captain America?” Diane looked at the other woman in sheer incredulity. “ _The_ Captain America? As in Steve Rogers Captain America?” she asked again, disbelief clear in her voice. 

“Yes. He was… Are you alright?” she asked concerned. 

Diane felt faint, this was not happening, there was a snowball’s chance in hell that the man in question was the same man. Steve had gone down a long ago, crashed his plane; the probability that this Captain America was her Steve was so small that she laughed out loud. It was most likely someone carrying his name in Steve’s honor, she thought. She shook her head and tried to clear it, she still had a plane to fly, she couldn’t afford her thoughts to enter that direction and had to focus on the now. Diane tried to dry her eyes inconspicuously, not wanting the other woman to see the tears that she still shed sometimes when she thought of Steve. The hand on her shoulder spoke clearly that she failed.

“No, really. Are you fine? Do you need something? Water? Anything I can help you with?”

“No, I’m fine. Thank you. Please, continue.” Diane replied.

* * *

They landed on LaGuardia in the midst of a huge chaos. The battle had ended whilst they were still in the air and the scene that greeted them was devastating. All around them were signs of battle; buildings ready to collapse if a slightest breeze hit them wrong, alien corpses littered the streets and the airport was filled with people seeking refuge. The military had taken control off the airport and were herding Diane and Ms. Potts through safe exits all the while trying to deal with the consequences of the battle. All the passengers that had been on the flight had taken off each to different direction with phones pressed tightly to their ears all desperately trying to find signal and some succeeding. Ms. Potts had told her that every one of them were making their damnest to get this city back on their feet and so was she. And it showed, Diane thought. Ms. Potts had been on the phone almost constantly while they were in the air and continued to do so after they had landed trying to orchestrate the help coming to the city and making sure everything was okay. 

Diane and Ms. Potts – no, please, call me Pepper – had struck up a friendship during the flight back to New York and Diane had offered to help with the cleanup when she realized and saw that there was a dire need for help. It was obvious the minute they stepped in the people-filled terminal. People were cluttered in groups, some were receiving medical attention, some were going over missing people lists posted on the walls and some were simply sitting where they were and stared forward listlessly. In the middle of all of this Ms. Potts walked like she had a mission and she probably did have one. Being a Stark Industries CEO granted her quite a lot of leeway; Diane had never seen anyone moving so freely amongst the military without being part of military themselves. And not possibly even then. 

Diane was ready to roll up her sleeves and stay there in LaGuardia to help deal with the masses when she saw Pepper coming towards her with a resolute expression on her face. She invited her to come with her to the Stark Tower where they would group with some others to figure out how to best help the city in need.

* * *

The ride to the Stark Tower seemed to take forever. All around them they could see signs of battle, plenty more the closer they got to the Stark Tower. The driver, who had picked them up at the LaGuardia, had sometimes trouble getting over huge alien carcasses and finding alternate routes. Some of the streets were totally cordoned off and they had to re-route their path multiple times before the Stark Tower loomed before them. They drove past several buildings that were collapsed or were nearly so, people in groups and alone who made their way to help points. Everywhere Diane turned her gaze she could see police, military, fire dept. and many more helping with the cleanup. It made her feel a little more hopeful, to see everyone rallying to make the city what it was before the battle. 

When they arrived at their destination the lobby was brimmed with people. Someone had started to organize them and few medical check points were situated around it. The overhead PA system guided people to right places. The tower obviously had its own separate power source as Diane could see some of the staff using computers helping with the aftermath, some with medical staff, some most probably making lists of people for the use of the authorities. 

Pepper was just finishing her last phone call when Diane saw an older gentleman come towards them. 

“Mr. Garrison! How is everything?” Pepper asked the man. 

“As well as they could be, Ms. Potts.” he replied solemnly. “We have more and more civilians come here as the closest hospitals are almost in full capacity. We have floors two to thirteen used as a temporary infirmary, floors above them up until twenty-five are temporary accommodation for those who are medically fine and above that are resting quarters for the help.”

Pepper inclined her head, pleased. 

“Good to hear that you have managed to make this operational in such a short time, Mr. Garrison. Now, if you could find something to do for my friend, Ms. Holmes, here I would be delighted.” Pepper gestured towards Diane. She saw the man turn and look at her making mental assessments and after a while he nodded. Pepper continued, “Also, if you see Tony, tell him I’m on my way to the penthouse and to stop calling me. And please do inform me or Jarvis if you need anything, will you Mr. Garrison.” 

Diane could see Mr. Garrison’s mouth turn slightly upwards. 

“I will, Ms. Potts. Last I saw him he was on his way there, too.” 

With that they parted their ways and Diane left to help mentally rolling her sleeves up and Pepper laughed and made her way to the elevators.

* * *

Diane had just finished guiding a group of displaced teenagers on their way to the 14th floor, entered their names on the database and stopped to wipe the sweat from her forehead. The kids had been spending their day in Central Park when the attack started, sought refuge and were now here, almost all more or less fine, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a voice ask her when was the last time she took a break. 

Diane turned and faltered. A man stood before her, a tall, muscular man, with blond hair. A very familiar looking blond man. 

“Steve?” she asked, voice barely audible. The other man just stood there, perplexed until recognition set in and then his face looked like he had just seen a ghost. Which, Diane reckoned, was not so farfetched. 

“P-Peggy?” he asked eyes wide with wonder. 

Diane took a deep breath and started laughing. She laughed, a full belly laugh, which quickly turned into almost sobs. Almost, as she would not break down in the middle of public space, she was British god dammit, but there were definitely tears in her eyes. She tried to calm down the best she could, but the occasional teary bursts of laughter still came. The other man’s arm was holding her up and when she could finally look at his eyes properly she saw that it was indeed Steve. 

Diane lifted her hand to brush the hair from Steve’s face and smiled at him. Either this was a very good dream or she was sleep deprived enough to hallucinate. Either way she didn’t want to wake up. Steve’s eyes searched her face, a question ready on his lips, but Diane didn’t let it form. She kissed him. She kissed him and threw her hands around his neck and lost herself for a while. The world would continue turning after they parted, but for the moment, all she wanted to feel was Steve’s lips on her own and his hands holding her tight against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed I added one more chapter. That is because I felt that an epilogue was needed and the current chapter found its natural end here. 
> 
> So, epilogue still to come. I'll try to post it in the next two weeks, but I'll make no promises as RL has been protesting recently (only a little, but enough to intefere with my writing time).
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than I would've wanted. Mainly because I had to rewrite the entire epilogue again as my original file had been corrupted. :( 
> 
> I may come back to this story at a later date and add some one-shots to it, but I have no idea when. My life at the moment is quite a rollercoaster so it may take a long while.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the ride!

Peggy never did manage to figure out how she managed to find herself on American soil, long way from where her petrol should have carried her. The most she could think was it being something to do with the rift that had caused her to be here anyway, the little tinkering that she and occasionally Howard did to the Sky Gypsy every now and then, the spare canisters of petrol and pure damn luck. Most likely it was a combination of all of those. She was quite sure she would never find out either, mainly because even though there were plenty of intelligent people nowadays in her acquaintances, her plane was now long gone. It had been burned out to the ground, not much had survived, but she was not entirely unhappy about the crash. It had after all brought her to the country where she was yet again meet Steve Rogers and rekindle their love.

Waking up the next day next to Steve was like from a dream. Steve had swept Peggy up her feet and it felt like she never had landed after that. After that first kiss in the lobby of the tower the pair had taken a break for the day and moved to the living quarters set aside for the Avengers. They had talked, both telling their stories, both marveling the fact that here they were, almost seventy years linear time since they last met. More kisses were exchanged and Peggy had been glad to notice the blush Steve seemed to have for a long time after those. The evening had ended in Steve’s bed, but not having hot, wild monkey sex. No, they continued their stories, cuddling and making out like teenagers and tried to reaffirm their lost connection. 

The next morning Steve introduced Peggy to the team. The team was mostly excited to learn about her. Only Tony had a minor tizzy fit when he realized Stark Industries' occasional pilot was also Peggy Carter, but other than that it went well. Steve had not stopped smiling the entire time and Peggy was glad to see it. She was looking forward to their second attempt at having a life together, whether the road be bumpy or not, at least they had a second chance now. 

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:
> 
> What if Diane Holmes was Peggy Carter? Let's say after the war Peggy begged Howard to teach her how to fly an aeroplane and he did. Peggy changed her name to Diane Holmes (perhaps because she didn't want to be known only as Captain America's sweetheart, she just wanted to change it, IDK, author can come up with a reason). Then the Rift opened and Diane/Peggy plus two civilians found themselves in year 2006 instead of 1953. 
> 
> At the end of the episode Diane/Peggy takes off again trying to get to the Rift again and back to the year 1953. What if instead of managing to go back in time Diane/Peggy found herself in US? What if she crashes, her plane's caput and she figures she'll just have to live her life as it is, here and now. Then the Avengers movie happens and she sees Steve's face in the television for the first time in over ten years... 
> 
> Please give me also the reunion scene of Peggy and Steve. How have they changed? How are they still the same? Also, all my love for a happy ending ♥!


End file.
